Battling synthetic drugs: An editorial

St. Tammany Parish law enforcement agencies are aggressively enforcing new state laws making synthetic drugs illegal, and they're right to go after people who make and sell these dangerous substances. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and the Mandeville and Slidell police departments arrested 21 people who allegedly sold products that the Louisiana Legislature outlawed over the summer -- most of them gas station and retail store owners.

Undercover agents made buys and conducted surveillance of a shipment of chemically engineered drugs from China. Members of the Sheriff's Office narcotics task force and Mandeville police confiscated 8,500 packets of synthetic marijuana as well as $115,000 in cash and other items. Slidell police confiscated more than $292,000 worth of illegal chemicals and compounds.

Officials also identified a manufacturing lab in Talisheek and St. Helena Parish.

St. Tammany criminal justice officials called attention to the danger of bath salts before they were banned, following the suicide of a young man who used them.

When Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order in January making bath salts illegal, St. Tammany officials sent retailers letters and made personal visits to educate them and seize any stocks of the products. Shortly thereafter, the first arrests in the state were made in Slidell.

The Louisiana Legislature outlawed the ingredients used to manufacture bath salts and synthetic marijuana. Now, as many as 21 people face criminal charges for violating the law that could bring five to 30 years in jail.

Making these dangerous drugs illegal was the right move, and St. Tammany officials are protecting public health and safety by vigorously enforcing them.